The Awakening

With the sequel to Minion, Banks has learned to catch the reader from the start and to bring it all the way home. She is able to think ahead and give insights to what might be in later books which only servers to hook you deeper and longer to this series. Clearly Banks has an image in her head of what she believes Heaven and Hell should be and the creativity and scope is...well as Damali often says Dayuuum.

I found this, the second book of the Vampire Huntress series, slightly better than Minion, the first. However, some of the same things that bothered me about that book came to surface in this one too.

I'm glad I hung onto Minion because The Awakening picked up right where that left off, and I had to reread certain portions of that first book to reacquaint myself with some of the things that went down already. I don't think the author did a very good job of allowing this book to stand on it's own. Granted, series such as this are meant to be read in order anyway, but like Laurell K. Hamilton does in her Anita books, if she needs to refer to an incident from a previous book, she'll usually provide enough additional detail so that new show more readers can continue reading, albeit with a little less knowledge and detail than someone who's been reading the series in order. This was not the case here; if you didn't read the previous book, and remember all of it's little nuances, you're going to need to before starting on this one. As it stands, I still had to refer back to things from book one since I'd read it 8 months prior to this one.

The story line is still interesting enough to hold interest, and because Banks doesn't go into detail on each of the main characters in this book like she did in Minion, we don't have as many passages that drag on too long like in the first book, though they're certainly not gone completely. At times while reading, I felt that maybe the writing was done in discrete parts, not necessarily in sequence, since sometimes the scenes didn't seem to blend transparently as they could've. Like maybe she'd forgotten she wrote something in an earlier scene, and then describes or talks about it again in a later scene, which may or may not completely jive with what was stated previously. Again, I noticed this behavior much more prominently in the first book than this one.

I won't go into a synopsis of the story itself, but suffice to say, this series looks like it's going to get even better going forward. show less

Much better than the first book! This time I knew the characters, knew what they did, knew the routine, and knew the background.

Lots of action! Pretty fast paced book, AND we got to see Damali rap. Finally!

Still a convoluted, confusing world, though. I ceased trying to make sense of it. The whole ovulation of a Neteru (vampire hunter) on her 21st birthday was eye rolling at best. A little tired of the scene. I did like the story of Carlos. Much more interesting than Damali.

I will read the next book, though, and hope there's more in it for Damali and her crew instead of same 'ol, same 'ol.

Picks up where the previous book leaves off, almost to the minute.

It's a tighter book than the first, although there are still some little bits that grate (Knight of Templar rather than Knight Templar for example). Oddly I find the anti-heroes story more compelling. We more or less know what the heroine will do, otherwise it would be a short and very dark series. Of course dark series aren't a bad thing, but it would be a shock here. Juggling offers of power and possible eventual reward make a more compelling story though, and one that is played to the hilt, nicely.

I was really hesitant to read the first book in the series ("Minion") and found it to be really slow and uninteresting in the beginning but it picked up in the end. This book did not have the same problem. I was hooked from the start. I like how Banks provided a little bit of a reminder of what happened in the first book (not that I needed it). But even that had me hooked.

In "The Awakening", Banks continues to build on the world that she has created, and it is very complex. Which is good and bad. It is good because it keeps the story moving forward and allows the reader to see the rules and guidelines that govern almost everything, good and evil. It is bad because it causes her to sit up situations that explain what is going on and show more why, that takes sometimes and subtracts from the action vibe that the story has.

I find most of Banks character to be captivating, even the bad guys. You want to know their story and what is going to happen to them. She gives you little glimpses of pieces throughout the novel (probably so that you will read the next one), but just enough to keep the story rolling and your curiosity perked.

I enjoy Banks witting and don't find that it is very difficult to read. It doesn't take much thought, its like watching an very good action more. You don't think you just absorbed the sences that she is sitting up for you. The only problem with her writing that I have is her use of slang not only in dialog but also in her sentence structure. It service the purpose of keeping with the stories settings but it also not only dates the story but her. I find some of the terms and actions of the characters to be out of date. show less

#73, 2006

The second in the Vampire Huntress series (the first was “Minion”). I felt very much the same about this book as I did about the first – interesting story, enough to make me keep reading, but I find the dialogue distracting and difficult to read (excessive slang, IMO). I really think the author would have been better off using far fewer colloquialisms – she could have still gotten the flavour across with just a few words here and there, without making it difficult to wade through. Still, I’m going to see about getting the third one from the library (this was a library book, as well).

Plot slow and detailed--action comes much, much later. I like the diverse characters, the hierarchies and governing laws of this world but it was a bit slow for my taste. I'm still pleased to see a fantasy series with ethnic characters.